1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for pressing photographic film in an exposure station in a camera, more particularly to a pressure structure for use in a camera having an exposure station that is elongated to create an elongated picture.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
A conventional 35 mm camera has a single exposure aperture for creating a 36.times.24 mm picture, hereinafter referred to as full size, on a photographic film loaded in the camera. There has been proposed a camera which as an elongated exposure station having a size such that the longer side of the full size is further elongated for creating an elongated picture. An example of such a camera (called an elongated camera herein) is a 3D camera "NIM THROW" (trademark), manufactured by NIM THROW) in which a film is positioned in an exposure station twice as long as full size, and by which stereoscopic photographs are taken. The exposure station of this elongated camera has a pressure plate for holding the film flat in the focal plane in the exposure station over a length twice that of the pressure plate for the full size.
Recent compact cameras with a full-size exposure station have a plastic pressure plate because plastic is inexpensive and so helps reduce the manufacturing cost. This is in contrast to pressure plates for elongated cameras, wherein the pressure plate is a single plate of metal, e.g. aluminum. The metal of such a pressure plate is expensive to fabricate, as compared with the plastic material for the full-size pressure plate of a general-use camera.
It would be desirable to adopt plastic also as a material for a film pressure structure of an elongated camera. But if a single elongated pressure plate were made from plastic, it would be difficult for this pressure plate to hold the film sufficiently flat in the exposure station, due to its greater length.